April 11, 2003

Civilians

One is an updated version of an op-ed by Onkar Ghate: Innocents in War Excerpt: "As a free nation our goal is our own defense, not civilian deaths, but we must not allow human shields, innocent or otherwise, to deter us from defending ourselves. The U.S. government recognized the truth of this on September 11 when, in order to defend those citizens it could, it ordered the shooting down of any more airplanes-become-missiles, even though this meant killing not only the terrorists but also the innocent American civilians captive on board. The government must now recognize that the same principle applies to civilian captives in Iraq and the rest of the Mid-East."

The other is a new op-ed by Peter Schwartz: Stop Apologizing for Civilian Casualties Excerpt: "Our moral right, and responsibility, is to do everything possible to safeguard American lives, however many civilian casualties that goal may require. We may lament the loss of innocent Iraqis during the war, just as we lament the loss of innocent Americans. But we should not apologize, since the blame, in both cases, rests entirely with the enemy, who made it necessary for us to wage war to defend ourselves against his threat."